Backend Engineer - Databridge

As a Backend Engineer at Hex, your primary responsibilities will include building and maintaining robust APIs, optimizing internal data stores, and collaborating with cross-functional teams to design scalable systems. You will also work on troubleshooting complex issues, enhancing product features, and integrating modern technologies into our data infrastructure, ensuring a seamless experience for end users.

To qualify for the Backend Engineer position at Hex, candidates should ideally have over 6 years of software engineering experience along with strong knowledge in managing data systems. Familiarity with databases like Postgres and ElasticSearch, as well as experience in working with high-performance data systems, will be valuable. Additionally, excellent communication skills are essential in our remote-first environment.

The Backend Engineer role at Hex involves working with a tech stack that includes Typescript, Express, Apollo GraphQL, Postgres, Redis, and Kubernetes. You'll also have opportunities to work with modern tools like Terraform and AWS for deploying and maintaining our infrastructure.

At Hex, we prioritize a great product experience by optimizing our data infrastructure for speed and reliability. As a Backend Engineer, you'll be tasked with finding innovative solutions to enhance performance while ensuring seamless access to data. Collaborating with multiple teams and implementing best practices will be essential in maintaining high standards for our users.

Hex fosters a unique culture that emphasizes collaboration, technical excellence, and innovation. As a Backend Engineer, you will participate in architecture discussions, RFCs, and code reviews. We support a remote-first environment where open communication and the ability to lead initiatives while mentoring fellow engineers are greatly valued.

In answering this question, share specific examples from your past experiences where you optimized data stores. Discuss methodologies you used, such as indexing strategies or caching mechanisms, and the outcomes that resulted from your efforts to enhance performance.

To successfully answer this, explain the importance of API documentation and versioning. Share your experience with implementing RESTful principles and your approach to building APIs that are intuitive and easy to use, along with any frameworks or tools you've utilized to ensure reliability.

Describe your problem-solving strategies, emphasizing how you break down complex issues into manageable parts. Include examples of when you evaluated trade-offs between different solutions and how you collaborated with team members to achieve an optimal outcome.

For this question, share a story that highlights your coaching and mentoring skills. Discuss the strategies you employed to help an engineer improve their skills, the type of feedback you provided, and how your guidance impacted their performance or the project outcome.

Here, share specific technologies you've explored and integrated, emphasizing how they improved the system's performance or functionality. Discuss any challenges you faced during integration and how you managed to overcome those obstacles.

Discuss the coding practices you follow to maintain high code quality, such as conducting code reviews, writing unit tests, and adhering to coding standards. You can also mention any tools or frameworks you've utilized to automate quality checks.

In response, share instances where you've managed data synchronization, outlining the techniques and technologies you used—like API integrations, queues, or event-driven architecture—and how you ensured consistency and reliability across systems.

Highlight your experience with scaling systems, discussing specific approaches such as load balancing, database sharding, and optimizing infrastructure. Share past experiences where you successfully scaled a product and the key metrics you monitored to gauge success.

Talk about your experiences working in a remote environment, emphasizing tools and practices you use to maintain clear communication, such as regular check-ins, documentation, and leveraging collaboration platforms to keep everyone aligned.

Your answer should reflect genuine enthusiasm and interest in Hex's mission and product. Discuss how the company’s values align with your personal goals, and elaborate on specific aspects of the role that excite you, such as the opportunity to work with cutting-edge technologies.